Papilio charopus, the tailed green-banded swallowtail, is a species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus Papilio that is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.Papilio charopus, Funet.fi
Subspecies Papilio charopus charopus (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea: Bioko) Papilio charopus juventus Le Cerf, 1924Le Cerf, 1924 Catalogue annoté des "types" et formes nouvelles des Papilios d'Afrique contenus dans la collection du "Hill Museum" Bull. Hill. Mus. 1 (3) (TL: Congo Republic [Semliki Valley]; Congo Republic (Ituri, Kivu), western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi) [syn. = P. c. montuosus (Joicey & Talbot, 1927; Encycl. Ent. (B3) 2 (1): 2; (TL: Congo Republic [N.W. Kivu, Upper Iowa Valley, near msisisi, 5000–6000 ft]), junior synonym]
Habitat Highland forests (Congolian forests, Lower Guinean forests).
Status Fairly common and not threatened.
Description External images The ground colour is black. The markings are metallic blue. The blue band reaches the hind wing margin in area lb.Seitz- Apex of the forewing produced and the distal margin therefore distinctly excised at the end of veins 5 and 6; forewing beneath with four large yellowish submarginal spots in cellules 1 b—4; the blue median band of the upper surface gradually and very considerably widened posteriorly, so that the spots of cellules 2 and 8 of the hindwing are very long and cover much more than half their cellules; the submarginal spots of the hindwing beneath of the ground-colour and consequently only indicated by their silver rings. — Ashanti to the Cameroons.Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.
Taxonomy Papilio charopus belongs to a clade called the nireus species group with 15 members. The pattern is black with green or blue bands and spots and the butterflies, although called swallowtails, lack tails with the exception of this species and Papilio hornimani. The clade members are:
Papilio aristophontes Oberthür, 1897 Papilio nireus Linnaeus, 1758 Papilio charopus Westwood, 1843 Papilio chitondensis de Sousa & Fernandes, 1966 Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert, 1904 Papilio chrapkowskoides Storace, 1952 Papilio desmondi van Someren, 1939 Papilio hornimani Distant, 1879 Papilio interjectana Vane-Wright, 1995 Papilio manlius Fabricius, 1798 Papilio microps Storace, 1951 Papilio sosia Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 Papilio thuraui Karsch, 1900 Papilio ufipa Carcasson, 1961 Papilio wilsoni Rothschild, 1926
References
Carcasson, R.H. (1960). "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society pdf Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society